NEW DELHI: Liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his aide S S Namdhari reached the disputed south Delhi farmhouse as part of a "well hatched conspiracy" that resulted in a shootout and the death of Chadha and his brother Hardeep. This is what the Delhi Police said on Saturday in its chargesheet against Namdhari, sacked Uttarakhand minority's panel chief, and his personal security officer filed in the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate Mukesh Kumar.

The chargesheet adds that Hardeep's death was "foreseeable and probable" going by the kind of arms and ammunition used by Ponty's men. The chargesheet accuses Ponty of being part of a conspiracy, saying he reached the farmhouse in accordance with the conspiracy to take possession of the disputed property in south Delhi's Chattarpur, which was under the custody of Hardeep.

The chargesheet alleges that Namdhari and Ponty were the "main conspirators in armed and forcible dispossession of occupants from farmhouse No. 42" and has named 19 others who have not been charged under Section 302 of IPC for murder but for other offences — ranging from attempt to murder, causing grievous harm, dacoity, rioting with deadly weapons, house trespass, kidnapping and illegally confining occupants of the farm house, destruction of evidence etc. All the 22 accused, including Ponty, have been charged under sections of the Arms Act.

Describing the sequence of events, the police said that Ponty and Namdhari conspired to take over the farmhouse from Hardeep who reached the farmhouse when one of Ponty's man was locking the gate. Hardeep fired at the man locking the gate and also at Ponty, prompting Namdhari and his PSO to return fire leading to the killing of both the brothers.

The police, in its over 1,000 page chargesheet, said that the forcible dispossession of farmhouse No 42, DLF farms by Ponty, Namdhari and their men was a well-thought conspiracy hatched by them. "There was a long standing property dispute between the brothers, Hardeep and Ponty. It has emerged that since the last one year, after the death of their father, the dispute between brothers had escalated, necessitating the intervention of Hardeep's father-in-law on few occasions, the latest being on November 16 — a day before this incident.

While taking cognizance of the chargesheet, the court directed the production of Namdhari and others before it on February 19.

The chargesheet has listed 109 prosecution witnesses. Out of 22, police had arrested Namdhari, Tyagi and nine others for their alleged role in the case. Against 8, the court has issued proclamation under CrPC. However, as Ponty was killed during the commission of offence, therefore the chargesheet against Ponty may be "abated".

The statements of eye-witnesses, analysis of call details, report of FSL received, recovery of weapons and other tools used for dispossessions and other material evidences clearly point towards a well hatched conspiracy by Ponty, Namdhari and their employees to dispossess Hardeep and his employees from the two farms houses at any cost, police said.

"In order to execute their evil design, both Ponty and Namdhari and their henchmen not only dispossessed Hardeep from the farm houses, but Namdhari and his PSO Tyagi also shot dead Hardeep."

"In the morning Namdhari clandestinely travelled and reached farmhouse No 21 of Ponty, held a meeting with managers who were to execute the planned conspiracy. Namdhari also provided and sent his armed men to execute the plan to take over forcible possession of farm house No 42 from Hardeep," it adds. Namdhari also sent its men, purportedly from 'Khalsa Sena' to another farmhouse at Kapashera in southwest Delhi.